Chronicles of Life and Death
by Nina0Rippner
Summary: A string of bank robberies have left the Santa Barbara Police Department grasping at straws. Thanks to the relentless efforts from Henry Spencer, Shawn has been kept off the case. He wants neither Shawn nor Gus getting involved with the dangerous circus.
1. Prologue

Rippner, 3

**The Chronicles of Life and Death**

**Prologue**

**Summary: **A string of bank robberies have left the Santa Barbara Police Department grasping at straws. Thanks to the relentless efforts from Henry Spencer, Shawn has been kept off the case. He wants neither Shawn nor Gus getting involved with the dangerous circumstances surrounding the unusual case. But nothing can stop Shawn. When he decides to take matters into his own hands he puts everyone he cares about in danger. At the same time, he's not sure he can hide his secret much longer. Will his relationship be able to survive the betrayal? The entire Santa Barbara Police Department is thrown for loops and shocked with an ending that no one could see coming.

**Santa Barbara  
1989**

The sky had turned a deep, gray shade of blue within a matter of seconds. Neither Shawn nor Gus had counted on the rain when they had tracked themselves out into the woods. The two young boys were outfitted in their rattiest jeans and t-shirts as they hauled two large shovels over their shoulders. They had snagged the shovels from the behind Shawn's house despite the outstanding lack of permission.

"Gus," Shawn's voice was a mixture of sleepiness and determinedness. "Do you think that my dad was right?"

"Right about what?"

"Well he says that the treasure doesn't exist, that it's just an urban legend."

Gus looked up from the ground for a split second and then back down at his feet. "It's possible. I think grown-ups just don't like it when we get our hopes up."

The two fell quiet again. About a week ago Henry's brother had come through town bearing another one of his infamous stories about a hidden treasure that was buried in one of the caves deep inside the woods. Apparently several hundreds of years ago a big bad pirate had been at a loss for ideas as to where to hide loot. Naturally, Henry Spencer had been quick to crush the boys' dreams of hopping in the back of the truck with his brother and riding out in search of his new get-rich-quick-scheme. Of course this didn't really stop the two boys, they simply waited until Henry least expected it and snagged the two shovels from behind the house and took off before they could get caught.

Five minutes later, Shawn and Gus arrived at the foot of what was probably the deepest, darkest cave they had ever seen. Neither of the boys had ever really been allowed into the woods alone. They had always had Shawn's dad with them when they would go on their little adventures, and even then they were a lot closer to home.

"Do you think this is the one?" Gus finally spoke, turning his head slightly towards Shawn, but not looking at him.

Shawn shrugged. "How are you supposed to tell one cave from another one?"

They looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'll go in if you go in." Shawn stated with a slight nod.

"You're on." Gus grinned. The boys locked arms and stepped forward towards the cave.

Once they were just a few steps into the cave, the boys stopped dead in their tracks.

"Did…" Gus swallowed. "Did you say something?"

Shawn shook his head. "Nuh-uh."

"I-I think maybe we should go back-"

"Don't… don't be such a baby, Gus." Shawn stuttered, stepping backwards with his friend.

From somewhere deep inside the cave a low growl sounded, echoing off the walls of the cave. The boys paused for a split second before they let out a high-pitched scream that sounded like a cross between a small baby pig and a small girl. It had taken them almost two hours to hike out, but only a half hour to run home.

As soon as they were out of ear shot, a large, blonde figure emerged from the cave. Henry Spencer doubled over from laughter and then stood back up.

"Next time you'll listen to your old man!" He hollered.

**Still Santa Barbara**

** 20 Years later… give or take a day…**

"Gus, don't pretend to be a porcupine smothered in peanut butter." Shawn scolded as he rummaged through the various papers and files on the Chiefs desk.

The Chief had left not even five minutes earlier and Shawn had taken it upon himself to sneak into the office to try and sneak a peek at the files concerning the latest case to come across her desk. Of course Gus had wined and protested the whole way. Which almost confused Shawn because even though he complained through the whole process, he was standing by window playing look out. One would think that if he was truly in disagreement with the idea, he would want to be as far away from the scene of the crime in case they got caught.

"That doesn't even make sense, Shawn."

"It does if you think about it." He paused, holding a couple envelopes in one hand, and what appeared to be a stack of crime scene photos… no… they were the Chiefs personal photos.

"I thought about it, Shawn, it doesn't make sense." Gus turned to him, "You're trying to say that I'm scared, but there's nothing scary about a porcupine covered in peanut butter!"

Shawn was back to rummaging through the contents of the desk. "You missed the entire point, Gus. Its not that a porcupine covered in peanut butter is scary, it's the poor little guy is scared _because _he's covered in peanut butter."

"That still doesn't make sense, Shawn!"

He shot Gus a small glare but didn't stop his work this time. "Don't you think that you would be scared if you were suddenly smothered in peanut butter?"

"Why would I be-"

"Gus, that is so beyond the point-"

"What on Earth is going on here?" The Chief was standing in the doorway with her hands her hips. Her blonde hair had been chopped a few inches shorter than the two men were used to.

"Karen," Shawn stood up a little higher and tried to put the papers in his hands down without having anyone realize it. "So nice to see you here-"

"Here?" She stepped further in. "In my office?"

Shawn nodded and swiveled his head trying to buy some time so he could think of his excuse. "I love this new hair!"

"New hair?..." She paused to look at Gus who was clearly trying to formulate his own excuse. "Do not try and change the subject, Mr. Spencer."

"Me? Change the wha…?" he feigned hurt. "Can you believe what she's accusing me of, Gus?"

"Shawn-now is not the time." He shook his head.

"He's right, Mr. Spencer." She walked up to the desk but was slightly caught off guard by the mess Shawn had made on her desk. Karen slowly looked up at the young man, "Are you looking for the Starlight Robberies file?"

"Chief, I wasn't looking for anything in particular…" he lifted his hands to his forehead and closed his eyes. "I was merely letting the spirits guide my wandering hands."

Karen tried her best to suppress an amused smirk as she did much of the time when she was around Spencer and his psychic antics. "Nice try… but you were told to stay away from this one. We don't need a psychic this time, its way to dangerous. We need to keep this one in the department."

Shawn looked hurt. "I practically am part of the department!"

"Not even close, Spencer." Lassitor piped in as he passed by.

The comment caught all three a little off guard, causing them to stop and simply look at each other for a moment. Shawn and Gus both shrugged, electing a classic eye role from the Chief.

_In between the lines there's a lot of obscurity,_

_I'm not inclined to resign to maturity,_

_If its all right,_

_Then you're all wrong._

_Why bounce around to the same damn song?_

_You'd rather run when you can crawl…_

_I know, you know,_

_That I'm not telling the truth._

_I know, you know,_

_They just don't have any proof._

_Embrace the deception,_

_Learn how to bend._

_You worst inhabitations tend to_

_PSYCH you out in the end!_

**Authors Note:**

**Thank you for reading! This is my first Psych fanfiction-and my first fanfiction posted in over two years. I had to get another account because of some problems with my old one. Please Review! And thank you to CupCakeNinja918 for reading over the prologue for me. You rock! I would love to have feedback, love you guys!**

**Nina Rippner**


	2. I Come By Confusion Naturally

Rippner, 3

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**The Chronicles of Life and Death**

**Chapter One**

"Come on, Dad, you know you're going to wind up calling us in on this case at one point. Let's just get a head start!"

Shawn was following his father through the inner halls of the Santa Barbra police department-his sidekick Gus was less than a mere few steps behind him. After observing the way that Henry was zigzagging through the building, it occurred to Shawn that his father might in fact be trying to lose him. Unfortunately for the older 'gentleman' both Shawn and Gus had spent extensive time in the police station-they both knew every square inch of the place. Thanks to various times having to wait for Chief Vick, they even knew how many lights, tiles and filing cabinets were in the building.

"No," Henry shook his head, glancing over his shoulder at his son ever so slightly. "Not this time, Shawn."

"Oh well, we tried." Gus caught Shawn's arm as Henry turned the corner in front of them. "Let's go."

He stumbled a little, his feet a little startled at the sudden halt. "What? Gus! No!" He looked at the corner where his father had disappeared and then back at Gus. He bounced a little, making a slight whimper like sound in his throat. "He's just about to give in!"

Gus wrinkled his eyebrows at him. "We already have a case to work on, don't you think that maybe-just maybe-we should finish a job that we have actually been hired on before we go begging for anymore."

"I already solved that one." Shawn walked away, turning the corner before Gus could stop him.

"You what?" This time it took him a little longer to catch up. "What do you mean you already solved that case? We just got it this morning."

"Even a monkey could guess that the husband did it."

"All you've done is look at some wedding photos."

He sighed. "Correction, Gus, all I did was look at _fake _wedding photos." They turned another corner. "In all of the pictures, he was either leaning, or looking at her sister. Plus, they were never legally married; he wanted it to look like they were."

Gus paused in the middle of the hallway, and then continued to follow Shawn.

"You know who did it and you haven't done your thing yet?"

This time it was Shawn's turn to pause-causing Gus to stumble into him. "My thing?"

"Yeah you know…" Gus touched his forefinger to his forehead, squinted his eyes and bobbed his head up and down.

Shawn glanced away and gave a small, sarcastic laugh under his breath.

"Don't be silly, Gus," his voice was hushed now. "I don't look near that ridiculous."

"Oh, please," Gus rolled his eyes. He removed his hands from his forehead and instead shoved into the pockets of his slacks. "You know for a fact that your 'psychic scenes' are the number one reason that Lassitor can't stand you."

Shawn pursed one side of his mouth together and shook his head a little, his eyes looking at the floor. "Guster, there are many things of which I know to be certain." He turned and started down the hallway again, this time at a more leisurely pace. ""For starters, I know that Cillian Murphy, while frightening as a cold blooded villain on a cramped commercial airplane in the middle of the night, would, in reality, rather pick flowers… not fights." They started up the stairs. "I know that that Japanese dude from Inception had no intention of falling through with their deal when he first made it." They reached the top of the stairs and continued down the hallway of the top floor. Gus waved a little as Buzz passed by, but neither stopped to talk. "I also know that the red head from That 70's show… much hotter as a blonde."

He turned a corner and plopped himself directly into the first seat available to him. "However, something-and perhaps the only thing-that I most certainly do not know is how, why, and when I get on Lassitors nerves." Shawn rested his elbows on the arms rests and touched the tips of his fingers together.

Gus silently sighed and relaxed his shoulders and body into his stance. "Wait a minute.., this is Lassitors desk!"

Almost as if on cue, Lassitor dissolved into view a few feet behind Gus.

"Spencer?" He snarled as the muscles in his neck tightened to the point Shawn could almost envision the 'old man veins' bursting and leaving the skin there a bruise like color. "What the hell are you doing in my chair?" It took him less than four strides to get to where Shawn was sitting.

"Yours?" Shawn pretended to be shocked. Lassitors long, slender fingers wrapped around Shawn's upper arm. Tight. "Lassie… I switched out your seat for Jule's chair months ago." Lassitor effortlessly pulled Shawn from the chair. He stumbled a little, but used Gus to regain his balance.

"Why the hell would you do that?" He wiped off the seat of the chair with the palm of his hand.

Shawn pressed his lips together and slowly looked towards Gus. When they made eye contact, Gus realized that Shawn's hand was still on his shoulder. Her jerked his shoulder away and began to fix his shirt.

"I don't…" He smiled. "…know."

Lassitor turned towards them, the muscles in his neck still tense. "Get. Out."

It had been two days since Shawn and Gus had done their little cleaning spree in their apartment like office. Well… two days since Gus had gone his little cleaning spree in their apartment like office. Shawn had spent most of that time browsing Juliet's facebook account and downing the last bit of food that they had in their mini fridge. His lack of help during Gus' four hours of 'OCD' was probably why the first thing Shawn did when he walked into the office this afternoon was throw his shoes across the room, toss his jacket somewhere near the pass through behind his desk, and popped open a bag of overly powdered hot Cheetos.

Shawn had never been a huge fan of the silent moment of pondering. It had always seemed just too... cliché for him. Crimes weren't solved by people sitting in dark rooms at a lonely desk while they stared at a large stack of papers or some old photos. No. That's what Lassitor did. That's how he tried to solve his cases. Granted, Shawn could not deny that Lassie not only had his own certain charm, but he was a very good detective. However, Shawn operated on an entirely different level. Some might call it a superior level, and at times he was tempted to agree. He needed to touch things, to see people. He needed to be out and about, out amongst everything so that he could sniff out his target. While flipping through a file and pictures was helpful to find his first hunting location, stacks of papers alone never helped anybody.

…So why was he sitting alone in the Psych office pulling a Detective Carlton Lassitor impersonation?

"That damn case…" he muttered.

He dipped his head forewords and squinted pointedly at the wall in front of him.

His dad was always just a tad reluctant to let him in on cases anymore. Juliet liked to claim that it was his own lame attempt to protect him. However, after a small amount of begging-and a few wise cracks about Lassie's hair-and Henry was handing over the case. So what was so special about this one? Sure… these people were dangerous criminals and cold blooded murderers, but both Shawn and Gus had worked with people like this before.

Shawn crunched down on a hot Cheeto and examined his hand-his fingers were now stained a redish color that matched the chips that he was munching on. After a moment he rolled his head back and let it rest on the back of his lounge chair. He couldn't wait for Juliet to get back from her 'trip.' It had been a week since she had gone back to Miami, something about filling in at the police academy there. No one had really given him a whole lot of information, pretty much just where she was going and a rough idea of when she would be back.

A month.

Chief Vick had sent his girlfriend away for an entire month. Maybe more. Of course, Chief Vick wasn't aware of their relationship, but still… how could someone send one of their top detectives out of the state during the middle of a the biggest investigation that they have had in years. He laughed a little to himself. These people really weren't taking this ting seriously, first they send an amazing detective away, and then they won't hire an even greater psychic detective. What was going on with the police department lately?

At that precise moment his cell phone rang in his pocket breaking him out of his person trance.

"Really?" He grumbled as he wiggled in his chair. After a moment his hand found its way to his pocket, it bumped against the little black box he had been carrying before it closed around his cell phone. When he saw that the text was from his father he tossed the phone onto the lounge chair next to him and turned his attention back to his flaming hot Cheetos.

No matter how many times they had run through it, it never got any easier to fit fifteen people in van the size of an eight seat suburban. Luckily whoever was the person who outfitted the van was smart enough to pull all the seats out except for the two front ones. Because of this little fact, Juliet o`Hara was now scrunched into the back of a non descript black van with fourteen grown men.

She was dawned in a stark black outfit that almost allowed her to blend into the walls of the van.

"Don't look so nervous." One of the large men next to her bumped her with his elbow. "If half of what Doss told us about you is true, you ain't got nothing to worry 'bout." He grinned a little as he slipped into his black ninja-like mask.

She nodded, following his action with her own mask.

A moment later, the van lurched to a stop-the sliding door on the side of the van opened not even a minute later.

'Let's go, Shorty!' Muscle man next to her slapped her shoulder as he jumped out of the car.

Juliet took a deep breath and followed him out of the car and into the building they had parked in front of.

_**"Black Horse Shoe Bank"**_

** Authors Note:**

**So, here is the First Chapter! Thank you so much for reading! I'm enjoying getting the feedback-please review as you read, I love hearing what people think. –Even if this story isn't your pine apple smoothie (I had one today actually, they are truly very good.)- **

**Be on the lookout for the next chapter, I am planning on updating again soon. I still have a week of Christmas break left and just about everyone in my neighborhood is out of town until school starts again on Monday. **

**Again, critiques are always welcome and very helpful. Though praise is kind of nice too. **

**Thank you! Don't forget to Review!**

**-Nina Rippner**


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